断剑的自白：第三幕 Confessions of a Broken Blade: Part 3

作者：Ariel Lawrence

（阅读第一幕） （阅读第二幕）- III -

(Read Part I) (Read Part II)- III -

坟墓一般死寂的议会大厅开始渐渐复苏。全副武装的武士祭司察觉到了骚乱，从四面八方赶来，逆着躲避危险魔法的人潮进入大厅。

The council hall that had been as still as a grave swarmed back to life. Armed warrior priests, drawn by the commotion, flooded through the doors, pushing past villagers who just wanted to run away from the dangerous magic that had been thrust upon them.

鹰钩鼻推事站稳脚跟，将球型惊堂木砸向案台。

The falcon-nosed judge had found her footing and cracked her wooden sphere against the table.

“本庭的均衡立刻恢复，”她命令道。

“This hall will restore itself to balance,” she demanded.

房间再次安静了下来。人们将翻倒的长凳扶正，重新坐好。那个披斗篷的陌生人挠了挠鼻子，走到角落查看墙上新添的齐胸高的切痕。一位武士祭司小心翼翼地接近附魔巨剑。

The room grew quiet once more. Overturned benches were righted. The crowd seated themselves. The hooded stranger scratched his scarred nose and moved to examine the new chest high scorch mark that blackened the walls of the council room. A warrior priest approached the magic weapon tentatively.

在桌台的碎木之中，巨剑和剑鞘躺在那里。破碎的剑身散发出绿色的能量弧光。武士祭司弯腰握住剑柄，他用双手举起巨剑，感受它的重量。虽然裂隙依然存在，但这把武器却完整地连在一起。

Amid the broken table legs, was the blade and sheath. A greenish glow of energy crackled around the still broken pieces. The warrior priest bent and reached for the pommel, using two hands as he felt the true weight of the sword. Though fractured, the weapon held its shape.

“快把这邪器拿走！”有人喊道。祭司将武器收回鞘中，又上来了几个祭司将它搬走。

“Put that accursed thing away!” someone shouted from the crowd. The priest slid the weapon back into the sheath as more priests came to remove it.

“是我杀了他，”锐雯又重复了一遍。她的声音是自己的，又不是自己的。这是她的往昔在说话。她看着大厅里的面孔。现在她全想起来了，在自己回忆的角落中惊醒。

“I killed him,” Riven repeated. The voice was hers and not hers. It was the past speaking through her. She looked at the faces in the room. Memory restored, she was awake once more to a shadowed corner of her history.

“锐雯，”推事说。

“Riven,” the judge said.

锐雯的注意力从巨剑突然移向推事。

Riven’s attention snapped from the blade to the judge.

“你知道自己在供认什么罪吗？”她问。

“Do you know what you are confessing to?” she asked.

锐雯点点头。

Riven nodded.

“你为什么这么做？”

“Why did you do this?”

“我不记得了。”她只有这个回答。双手被束缚的锐雯此刻无法拭去默然的泪水，只能任其顺着下巴滑落。

“I do not remember.” The words were all she had to offer. Because of her bound hands, Riven could not wipe away the silent tears that ran down her jaw.

推事目不转睛地看着她，等待更多真相浮出水面，但经过徒劳的等待后，她向庭吏示意了一下。

The judge stared hard, waiting for more to reveal itself, but when nothing came, she motioned to the bailiff.

“锐雯，你将被囚禁于此，直到明天黎明正式宣判，在此期间任何人都可以与你就私人恩怨谅解言和。”

“Riven, you will stay chained in this hall until dawn so that all who need to speak with you to make peace may do so before you are sentenced.”

锐雯盯着手上的镣铐。

Riven looked at the shackles on her wrist.

“我和其他两位推事将查据法典并与长老们商议，对你的罪行给与恰当的刑罚。”

“The other magistrates and I will consult the scrolls and the elders for an appropriate punishment of your crime.”

村民们安静地离开了。最后离开的是那对老两口。锐雯是根据听到的莎瓦对老伴的低语时的口音推断的，只是剧烈的情绪让话语难以辨认。当她听到两个老迈的步伐渐渐走出门口，锐雯终于抬起了头。大厅里已经没有了活人——只剩下昔日鬼魂。

The villagers left quietly. The last to leave was the old couple. Riven knew this because she heard Shava whisper in her country voice to the old man, though emotion made the words unclear. When she heard their aged feet finally shuffle over the threshold, Riven at last looked up. The room had been emptied of the living—the only thing she was left with were the ghosts of her past.

午夜的空气冰冷清爽。夜空中一轮满月周围环绕着一圈冷冽的光晕。月光通过敞开的门扉洒进大厅，但并没有照亮锐雯所在的房间尽头的阴影。白天的时候没有任何人进来与她谅解言和。虽然武士祭司抬走了巨剑，但大厅周围墙上尖利的刀印让村民们不敢进入。有些人打开了门，又有几个人带来更多烂蛋果，但最后不再有人来打搅锐雯的冥思。她终于得以入睡，但这是轻浅、间断的睡眠，对于一个自知即将迎来最后一个黎明的人来说恰如其分。当她听到黑暗中悉索的脚步声接近，立刻醒了过来。

The midnight air was cold and clear. The full moon held a ring of frost high in the dark sky. The light streamed in through the hall’s still open doors, but did not reach the shadows which held Riven at the back of the room. None of the crowd had come inside during the day to make their peace. The warrior priests had taken the blade, but the wooden spiked scorch mark that encircled the room kept the villagers from venturing inside the council hall. Some had come to the open door, a few with more rotten eggfruit, but ultimately Riven had been left alone with her thoughts. Sleep had finally come for her, but it was the light, fitful sleep of someone who knew the coming dawn could be her last. When shuffling footsteps approached in the dark hours before sunrise, she was instantly awake.

锐雯睁开双眼。

Riven opened her eyes.

“老爹，”她说。“你在这干什么？”

“O-fa,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

老伯猫着腰慢慢溜到她身边，打开一个软布包，里面全是工具。锐雯认出这是用来安装和修理铧刃用的金属器材。

The old man crouched down next to her slowly and unrolled a soft cloth full of tools. Riven recognized the metal instruments as the ones he used to fix the long blade to the plow.

“你看我像是在干什么，孩子？”月光勾勒出的轮廓让他脸上的沟壑显得愈发深邃，但他们二人周围的幽暗气氛似乎并没有像锐雯想象的那样感染老伯。

“What does it look like I’m doing, child?” The silhouette of the moonlight deepened the wrinkled edge of his face, but the gloom of the shadows where the two of them sat did not touch him the way Riven had thought they would.

“你可真是一心想死，”他用责怪的口吻对她说。“你这样是求不得均衡的。”

“You are stubborn in your wish to die,” he chided her. “That is not how you will find balance.”

他在锐雯的手铐和脚镣上鼓捣起来。锐雯并没有将他推开并让他回家，虽然她内心强烈要求她阻止老伯，但是私心让她狠不下心。如果老伯是此生最后一个陪伴她的人，那么锐雯希望这个瞬间可以尽量延长。她就一直这样沉默地坐着，直到几分钟后她听到大厅外面的石子路上传来脚步声。锐雯看了看亚撒。他在笑，拿着解开的镣铐在她面前晃了一下，就像小孩子在炫耀自己的玩具。

He worked the shackles at Riven’s wrist and ankles. Riven did not push him away and tell him to go home as her mind insisted. Her selfish heart would not let her. If the old man was the last person she would sit beside in this life, Riven wanted the moment to go on as long as it could. She sat this way for a few minutes until she heard footsteps on the gravel outside the hall. Riven looked to Asa. He was smiling, dangling the opened cuffs before her like a child’s toy.

“老爹。快。藏起来。有人来了。”锐雯的声音急促尖锐，不容回绝。老伯快步躲进角落的阴影中。锐雯重新低下头摆出睡觉的姿势。她让头发遮在面前，睁着眼。

“O-fa. Quickly. You must hide. Someone is coming.” The edge to Riven’s voice was sudden and sharp and left no room for argument. The old man shuffled to a dark corner to wait in the shadows. Riven bowed her head again in the practiced pose of sleep. She let her hair fall in front of her face, but kept her eyes open.

一阵强风吹过树丛，绕过大厅的门柱。在一束月光的映衬下，一个人影立在门口。

A strong wind blew through the trees and curled around the posts of the hall’s great doors. There, framed by a shaft of moonlight, the contour of a man stood on the threshold.

这个陌生人不再用斗篷遮住脸，剑和金属护肩也全都亮在外面。他和其他人一样在门口停顿了一下。但和村民们不一样，他走了进来。他没有在石头地面上留下任何脚步声。当他距离锐雯一把剑长短的时候，停下了脚步。

The stranger’s mantle was now pushed back fully from his face and hung loosely over his shoulders, leaving his blade and metal pauldron clearly outlined. He paused at the doorway like the others. Unlike the villagers, he ventured inside. His feet made no sound on the stone floor. When he was a blade’s length from Riven, he stopped.

他从背后拎出了一个皮剑鞘，上面刻着粗糙的符文。他把剑鞘扔到锐雯脚边，哗啦一响。

He reached behind his back and retrieved a leather scabbard with harsh runic writing carved into it. He tossed it, clattering, at Riven's feet.

“哪一个更重，锐雯？”他问道。“是你的剑，还是你的过往？”

“Which weighs more, Riven?” he asked. “Your blade, or your past?”

显然这个陌生人知道锐雯没有睡着，所以锐雯也不再假装。她抬头看他，他的脸在灰暗的阴影中模糊不清，但鼻子上的伤疤清楚可见。

It was clear the stranger knew Riven wasn’t sleeping and so Riven no longer pretended. She looked up at him, his face reduced to gray shadow, yet the scar across his nose was clear.

“你是谁？”她问道。

“Who are you?” she asked.

“另一把断剑。”他回答说。“你准备认罪伏法。这一点我佩服你。”

“Another broken blade,” he answered. “You are ready to accept guilt. For that, I admire you.”

锐雯看到他的脸上浮现出短暂的感情。

Riven watched as a brief wash of emotion crossed his face.

“你的剑背后的隐情，”他继续说。“你知道真相吗？”

“There is more to the story of your blade,” he continued. “Do you desire the truth of what happened?”

“我杀了他。他是因我而死。他们全都……是我干的，”锐雯继续说。她不知道自己能否承担更多悲伤。

“I killed him. He died because of me. They all died because of me,” Riven countered. She was not sure if she was capable of carrying more grief.

“举剑。”

“Pick up your weapon.”

锐雯坐在原地一动不动。她听到那人发出恼怒的低吼。

Riven sat. She could hear the man’s low growl of frustration.

“站起来，你无可逃避，”那人说道。他的声音不容回绝。

“Stand and face your past,” the man said. His voice left no room for argument.

旋风开始在大厅中卷涌，推开长凳，也推着锐雯站了起来。战斗本能和肌肉记忆指引着锐雯的手臂。当她面对这个陌生人的时候，带鞘的巨剑已经握在她手中。

A wind began to build, swirling around the room, knocking back benches in the hall, and pushing Riven to her feet. Instinct and physical memory guided the young woman’s arm. When Riven faced the stranger, the sheathed blade was in her hand.

“我求他把它打碎。”她说。

“I asked him to destroy it,” she said.

“是吗？”那人的声音带着嘲讽。

“Did you?” the man’s voice was mocking.

陌生人的怀疑刺痛了她，深入回忆的骨髓。她颤抖着，模糊地想起了那个景象。素马长老的声音宁静平和。他的冥想室中气氛凝重，带着思想和焚香的重量。素马长老并没有评判她，也没有评判她的负担。

The stranger’s question was cutting and it hit a bone of memory in Riven. She shuddered with a half-remembered vision. Elder Souma’s voice had been so calm. The air in his meditation room had been heavy with thought and the smell of incense. Elder Souma had not judged her or her burden.

锐雯看着面前的陌生人，心中涌出一阵剧痛，流淌至全身，直到她握剑的双手。她紧紧抓住剑柄，从剑鞘中抽出符文之刃。

Riven looked at the stranger before her now, anguish building in her heart, flooding her body until it reached her hands. She tightened her fingers around the pommel as she drew the runic blade from its sheath.

“你为何而来？”锐雯问。

“Why are you here?” Riven asked.

破碎的剑刃带着粗糙的能量。耀眼的光芒在墙上投下斑驳的影子。

The broken blade coursed with power. The blinding light cast their shadows on the walls.

“我知道你一心求死。”陌生人笑着说。

“I heard you wanted to die.” The stranger smiled.

一直以来侵扰她的鬼魂现在倾巢出动，锐雯向着那些鬼魂狂乱地挥砍。那个人的刀刃格挡了她的忧伤和狂怒。这让她更加愤怒，把她拉回了现在。二人开始了一场剑舞。每一次格挡和突刺都伴随着空气的轰鸣和爆裂。

The ghosts that haunted her had returned in full force and Riven swung wildly at them now. The man’s blade parried the sadness and the fury. It infuriated her and centered her back in the present. They danced around each other. The air hummed and crackled at each block and thrust.

“我来此是为了杀死谋害我师父的凶手。”他咬牙切齿，喘着粗气说道。“我来取你的命。”

“I came here to kill my master’s murderer.” He was breathing hard through gritted teeth. “I came here to kill you.”

锐雯大笑一声，双眼泪目而视。“动手吧。”

Riven laughed, tears in her eyes. “Then do it.”

疾风武士放低剑身，开始操纵他们周围的旋风。魔法发出炽热的音调，那个人将能量聚焦到那把符文巨剑上。那把武器上的诺克萨斯魔法开始颤抖，破碎的剑身刹那间分散，顶端的那一小块碎片也游离出来。

The wind warrior lowered his sword, and instead manipulated the very air that swirled around them. The magic built to a fever pitch, the man focused the energy at the runic blade. The Noxian spells within the weapon shuddered, the broken pieces separating for a moment, releasing the sliver at the fore end.

能量坍缩，那块小碎片崩了出来，飞向黑影中亚撒藏身的方向。死亡的弹丸眼看就要射入老伯的喉咙。锐雯再次嗅到了那股带着焚香味道的辛辣回忆，那浓烈的味道是素马长老的冥想室。

The energy collapsed and the sliver broke away, speeding toward the shadowed corner that held Asa. The tiny bit of death was about bury itself in the old man’s throat. The spiced memory of incense flooded Riven’s nose, she was back in Elder Souma’s meditation room.

“不！”她大喊道。锐雯扔下刀刃，面对重演的悲剧束手无策。

“No!” she shouted. Riven dropped her blade, unable to prevent that which had happened before.

就在那片刀刃即将刺穿老伯饱经风霜的皮肤之际，它停了下来，被一道风墙束缚在空中。那个鼻子上带疤的人松了一口气，锐雯碎刃上的小铁片径直掉到了石头地面上。

Just as the piece of shrapnel was about to graze the old man’s weathered skin, it stopped, held in place by a current of air. The man with the scarred nose let out a strained sigh and the small shard of Riven’s broken blade dropped harmlessly to the stone floor.

“你运气好，气息够重，孔德老爷。”那个陌生人在急促的喘息之间语速飞快地说。

“You are lucky your breath comes so heavily, Master Konte,” the stranger said, his own short-winded words tumbled out quickly.

锐雯跑到老伯面前抱住他。她侧过头看着那个陌生人。风依然抽打着他的头发，他用不拿剑的手背擦去几颗汗珠。

Riven ran to the old man and embraced him. She looked over her shoulder at the stranger. A breeze still whipped his hair as he wiped a bit of sweat away with the back of his free hand.

“你没说谎。”那个陌生人也走了过来，捡起了刀刃的碎片。锐雯看到他的一部分怒火化为了理解。“你杀了素马长老，但你不是凶手。”

“It is true.” The stranger joined them, picking up the splinter of the blade. Riven watched some of his anger melt into understanding. “You killed Elder Souma, but you did not murder him.”

“对不起。对不起。”锐雯一直在寻找的这个瞬间，她再次活了过来。一连串哽咽的话语脱口而出。她颤抖着扶着老伯。

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” The moment Riven had been searching for, she was living again. The words came fast and thick. She was shaking as she held on to the old man.

“我找到他。我哀求他……”锐雯想要咬清每个字，但是她被激动的情绪压倒。“我求他帮帮我。打碎这个。打碎我。”

“I came to him. I begged...” Riven struggled to enunciate each word as emotion overcame her. “I begged him to help me. To break this. To break me.”

“素马长老的确试着摧毁了你的剑，”疤脸的人说道。他的声音也变得哽咽。“但是，锐雯，过往已经铸成，我们无法改变。”

“Elder Souma tried to destroy your blade,” the scarred man said. His voice grew thick. “But we cannot destroy our past, Riven.”

锐雯知道那种感觉，面对一去不返而又挥之不去的记忆。现在她看到这个陌生人也背负着属于他的鬼魂。他一声叹息，周围的旋风逐渐平息。

Riven knew what it was to face memories that could not live again, but would not stay dead. She saw now this stranger carried his own ghosts. The swirling eddies of air calmed around him as he gave a heavy sigh.

“守护素马长老是我的责任。如果我当时在场……在那天夜里……我本可以保护他。杀死他不是你的本意。”锐雯看着他，悟得真谛的武士惺惺相惜，那人再度将自己的心魔扛在肩上。二人四目相对。“说到底，他的死是我的过错。”

“Elder Souma was my responsibility. If I had been there… that night… I could have protected him. It was not your intention to kill him.” Riven watched, one knowing fighter to another, as the man resettled the burden of his own unseen demons once again on his shoulders. He met her gaze. “In the end, the fault of his death lies with me.”

“亚索？”老伯走近了一些，然后伸出一根弯曲的手指。“你承认了自己的过错，这是莫大的光荣。”

“Yasuo?” The old man looked more closely at the man and then wagged a gnarled finger at this. “You have shown great honor in admitting the truth in this matter.”

“我的光荣早就离我而去了，老爹爹，”锐雯在亚索身上看到了同样的抗拒，抗拒希望、抗拒原谅。他摇了摇蓬乱的头，没有接受老伯的辩解。“一步错，步步错。这就是对我的惩罚。”

“My honor left a long time ago, O-fa,” In Yasuo, Riven saw her own resistance at the offer of hope, of forgiveness. The man with the wild hair shook his head at the old man’s reprieve. “One mistake has compounded many others since. That is my punishment.”

他的自我审判被碎石路上的脚步声打断。鹰钩鼻子的女人进入了议会厅。她仔细地绕着大厅走了一圈，查看了两位身心破碎的武士打斗留下的伤痕。她每一步都伴着金属磕碰的声音。推事在路过锐雯和老伯的时候放慢了速度。锐雯看到了一个皮扣，上面挂着她镣铐的钥匙。当推事走到那个陌生人面前的时候，停下了脚步。

The pronouncement was interrupted by the shift of gravel. A falcon-nosed woman entered the council chamber. She walked carefully around the room, inspecting the damage of the fight between the two broken warriors. A metal jangle kept time with her footfalls. The judge slowed as she passed Riven and the old man. Riven recognized a loop of leather slung with the keys to her shackles. When the magistrate came face to face with the stranger, she stopped.

“负起责任是赎罪的第一步，亚索。”她语气平和地说。

“Taking responsibility is the first step to atonement, Yasuo” she said evenly.

“第二步呢？”亚索的话里带着绝望的尖刺。

“And the second?” There was a desperate edge to Yasuo’s words.

亚索没有躲避推事的凝视。房间凝固了，停止了呼吸。

Yasuo held the magistrate’s gaze. The room stilled, holding its breath.

推事平静的声音在空荡荡的议会大厅中显得格外洪亮。“原谅自己。”

The judge’s quiet voice was loud in the empty council hall. “Forgiving yourself.”

锐雯认真地看着这位武士。他无法强迫自己说出那句解脱痛苦的话。这么久以来，锐雯一直在求死，而现在她看到亚索的挣扎，她意识到，真正困难的是背负着自己的所作所为继续活下去。亚索也看着她。他愿意留下来面对过去吗？

Riven watched the fellow warrior closely. He could not bring himself to the words that would release him from his pain. Riven had wanted death for so long, but now as she witnessed Yasuo’s own struggle, she knew the hardest thing she could do was to live and to live with what she had done. Yasuo looked at her now. Would he stay and face his past?

那个疾风作伴的人走出了议会大厅，走进了黑夜。锐雯紧紧握着老伯年迈的双手。

The man who carried the weight of the wind turned his back on the council hall and walked into the night. Riven held tightly to the weathered hands of the old man.

日出时分，清新凉爽，但云的厚度预示着和煦温润的一天。当武士祭司和鹰面推事拿着钥匙扣来提犯人的时候，推事略感惊讶地翘起一瞥眉毛，她看到镣铐依然整齐地摆在地上。锐雯自觉地站了起来，走出了大厅，面对自己的未来。

Sunrise was cool, but there was a thickness in the blanket of clouds that hinted the day would turn warm and humid. When the warrior priest and the hawk faced judge with the leather loop of keys had come to collect Riven, the judge had raised one slender eyebrow at the neatly piled shackles still on the floor. Riven stood on her own and walked out of the hall to face her future.

另外两位推事已经让村民们在议会大厅门外的广场上集合。锐雯猜想，这一定是因为他们都不想再和她或者她的符文之刃共处一室了。一阵清风轻抚推事的长辫。

The other magistrates had gathered the waiting villagers in the square outside the council hall. Riven assumed none of them wished to be confined with her or her runic blade. A cool breeze now tugged at the plaits of the judge’s hair.

“经过对证据的整理，结合长老们的意见，这位诺克萨斯人的罪名成立。”推事开始宣布。

“Upon examining the evidence and consulting with the elders, the Noxian woman will stand for her crimes,” the judge began.

锐雯听到自己出生地的名字，汗毛直立。她看着相互依偎的莎瓦和亚撒。

Riven bristled at the inclusion of the land of her birth. She watched as Shava and Asa leaned on each other.

“虽然判处死刑轻而易举，但死刑无法保持世界的均衡，”为首的推事继续说。“死刑不能修复罪行给民众带来的破坏。”

“Though easy to carry out, a sentence of death does not keep the world in balance,” the head magistrate continued. “It does little to repair the destruction a crime rips through a community.”

村里的人们纷纷点头大加赞同。锐雯看到他们的脸，看到了他们共同的缺失；缺失了父母的孩子，缺失了儿女的老人。

The people of the village nodded in sober agreement. Riven took in their faces, noticing a pattern to the many who were missing; fathers and mothers to the young, sons and daughters of the old.

“所以，本庭寻求的是更漫长、更严厉的判罚，”推事继续说。“我们将监督这位放逐之人，锐雯，修复她造成的破坏。”

“Instead, this council seeks a longer, harsher sentence,” the judge continued. “We will see that Riven, the exile, mends that which she has broken.”

推事顺着鹰钩鼻尖俯视锐雯。

The judge looked down her falcon nose at Riven.

“判罚她重劳役之刑，”推事宣布。“就从孔德夫妇家的田地开始。”

“It will be a punishment of hard labor,” the judge announced. “Starting with the fields of Master and Mistress Konte.”

人群中掀起一阵低语。

A murmur swept through the crowd.

“本庭还将监督锐雯修理议会大厅。并补偿那些在诺克萨斯侵略期间受到伤害的家庭。”

“This court will also see Riven make reparations to the council hall. And to those whose homes and families were injured in the Noxian invasion.”

推事充满期待地看着锐雯。“你是否愿意接受这一判罚？”

The judge looked at Riven expectantly. “Will you live by this decision?”

所有眼睛现在都指向锐雯。一种新的感情卡在了她的咽喉。她环顾四周，那些过去的鬼魂并没有随着宣判而消失。锐雯看到那些鬼魂自如地与活人融合。她很吃惊。眼前的景象让她宽慰。她将向所有人证明自己有资格接受这个礼物。

All eyes were on Riven now. A new emotion caught in her throat. She looked around. The ghosts she carried did not melt away with the pronouncement. Riven looked to them as they mixed freely with the living. It surprised her. She welcomed the visions. She would prove to them that she was worthy of the gift being offered.

“愿意。”锐雯哽咽得几乎不认得自己的声音。

“Yes.” Riven barely recognized her own voice, overcome as it was.

老两口立刻扑向前，用力抱紧锐雯。她也在拥抱中彻底放松，用力抱紧他们。

The old couple swept forward at this, crushing Riven between them. Riven relaxed into their embrace, leaning into them now as they did to her.

“黛达，”莎瓦的嘴唇紧贴锐雯的白发。

“Dyeda,” Shava murmured against the slashes of Riven’s white hair.

“女儿，”她低声回应。

“Daughter,” she whispered back.